"For me, Connor's situation is clear, he needs to sign a new contract or we let him go -- we sell him," Poyet told the Sunderland Echo and The Journal. "There is nothing in between. He is an asset to the football club and we paid a lot of money for him.

"Last year, he was a key part of us staying up and he was very important but he needs to realise that the club needs to look after the interests of the football club as well. I suppose that, one way or the other, we are going to have an agreement.

"Which one of those [two outcomes] is going to happen, I don't know -- it is not my job. That is [sporting director] Lee Congerton's department."